British Gas must reverse the minimum top-up change

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British Gas has increased the minimum top-up from £1 to £5 which is likely to put families at risk.

I grew up with gas and electric pre-pay meters, and well remember scrambling for 50p for the meter when the electricity or gas ran out, and then later when they introduced top up cards, making regular use of emergency credit and undertaking late night trips to top up the card in order to restore electricity.

I know first hand that sometimes all you could do was put just enough on to keep things going until you had a little bit more money to work with.

It’s bad enough that pre-pay meters already hit the poorest, with the cost of energy being higher than monthly billed customers.

But this move to increase the minimum top-up rate will be putting families at risk and should be reversed immediately, especially at a time of year when the need for gas and electricity will be at its highest.